One of the most enjoyable aspects of traveling and spending time in other cities is eating. Finding those off beat restaurants that prepare food in unexpected ways or simplify tastes to highlight the freshness of a particular ingredient, or to simply sample regional cuisines. It's an exciting experience for your palette to have access to something you just can't get at home. We try to apply a similar philosophy to our own eating habits at home when going out to eat. Sure, we have a number of predictable favorites, we always choose the best place for sushi or hit the Udipi Cafe for Indian (the cafe associated with the tucked away Hindu temple where the Indians go for Indian food). But the common thread shared between all of the places we frequent are that they are unique, you can't just go to any end of town and find the places I like. In a recent discussion with a couple of friends deliberating on where to grab lunch in an area of town I'm not particularly familiar with, I asked, "What's a good place to go in this area?" and was met with, "well, there's Chiles, Don Pablo's, Olive Garden..." the list went on to include other chain franchise's that I've come to avoid, even loathe. Going to eat at a franchise, where you could go to the same cookie cutter restaurant in any given city and have the exact dish prepared identically to one in another city is glorified fast food. When we're on the road we'll stop somewhere that is convenient and predictable, there is a time and place for fast food but lunch with friends isn't one of them. I love to be exposed to new things. When I ask where someone's favorite place to eat is, I want to hear, "we found this fabulous little restaurant that we never noticed before and their menu changes seasonally so it's always different," not, "what about the Cheesecake Factory?" Where do I want to go eat? If you honestly want my opinion, be prepared to drive, there's this great little place on the far end of Oakmont in the most unassuming building...